View clinical trials related to Cervix; Pregnancy.
Filter by:An essential part of clinical research is the availability and accessibility of human biospecimens for the identification of biomarkers, new treatments and measurement of response to therapy. Proteins, RNA and DNA can be extracted and studied as well. This is a critical first step in performing many fundamental molecular biology experiments. A variety of biospecimens are utilized for research including but not limited to normal and malignant tissues, blood, and other body fluids. In order to obtain high-quality biospecimens, they must be acquired serially, stored according to current standards, and matched with clinical information for maximum value. As such, the investigators would like to create a repository of biospecimens collected from pregnant patients who are seen at Mount Sinai Hospital and other research hospitals in Toronto. Mount Sinai provides personnel and infrastructure to serve the largest (7500 births/year) and highest complex Maternity program in Ontario. Of the 7500 patients a year, at least 2500 are considered high risk pregnancies, where there's a possibility of preeclampsia, placenta accreta and a host of other complications. For this study, biological specimens - blood, cervical and placental samples - will be collected from these high-risk groups in order to better understand the causes of the underlying conditions.
Fetal cells are not easily obtained from pregnant patients; this curtails testing to assess the health of the fetus and the mother. Currently, the only way of diagnosing fetal genetic or chromosomal abnormalities is by invasive techniques, such as chorionic villous sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis performed at 10 to 13 weeks and after 15 weeks of gestation, respectively. Although small, there is a risk for fetal loss with these procedures. Transcervical cell sampling (TCS), similar to a Pap smear, is a platform that meets the requirements for prenatal genetic testing (genetic testing with fetal cells obtained before birth), as well as diagnosis of maternal pregnancy complication, at a very early stage of pregnancy (as early as 5 weeks) and carries low risk for the mother and the developing fetus. This study will examine cervical fluid collected using various noninvasive methods for TCS in pregnant women. The number of placental cells will be assessed against similarly obtained samples from nonpregnant women of reproductive age who lack cells derived from a placenta. Participating volunteers will provide written informed consent. Only standard medical procedures and approved devices will be used for collection of cervical fluid, minimizing risk to the participants and their fetuses. No test results or other benefits will be available to the participants.